News

Kensington antenna proposal revised by AT&T

By Rick Radin Correspondent

Posted:
07/24/2013 02:57:41 PM PDT

Updated:
07/24/2013 02:57:42 PM PDT

KENSINGTON -- The board that advises the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors on Kensington affairs will be weighing a revised plan from telecom giant AT&T to install cellphone antennas on PG&E power poles to improve cell service in the community.

The latest set of antenna applications replace those that the Kensington Municipal Advisory Council rejected in February, primarily because of community concerns about the antennas' potential to block views in hillside neighborhoods.

The revised plan calls for installing six antennas instead of the nine under the previous plan, along with a seventh antenna of a different design on the roof of an as-yet-undetermined building on Moeser Lane in El Cerrito, said Alex Krasov, AT&T's public affairs manager for Northern California.

The KMAC will take up the issue and hear public comment at its Tuesday evening meeting.

"We basically started the process over and are going back to the KMAC," Krasov said. "We took into account a lot of the community's feedback we got from the initial application."

At the KMAC meeting in February, AT&T declined an opportunity to install wooden "story poles" that are the same size and shape as the antennas to give residents an idea of how much they would block views.

However, the company changed direction on that issue.

AT&T has installed story poles on the six PG&E poles where the antennas would be located under the new set of applications, Krasov said.

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"The new proposal is fewer antennas and a different design and look," said Lane Kasselman of AT&T. "We also changed the locations of a couple of sites."

The KMAC's vote will be advisory only. After that, the applications will come before the county Planning Commission with a recommendation from the county planning department.

If the planning commission's decision is appealed, the final decision rests in the hands of the county Board of Supervisors.

The application to install the El Cerrito antenna will come before that city's planning commission and City Council, Krasov said.